As they went through the ribbon presentation, George had both hands tensely poised with fingers crossed. Matt quickly realized the ribbons were being handed out to the all the kids that qualified for State. They were handing them out straight out of the printed program from State. George was not in the program because he went in place of a kid on the third and fourth grade relay that couldn't make it to the tournament. Once all the riboons were handed out and George hadn't won one, he was heartbroken. But as usual, he kept up a good front, trying to stay positive.
Then, special certificates were handed out. The coach got up and told the story of a second grader who joined the team for the first time this year. He talked about how this boy worked hard all year and really wanted to go to State, but in the end didn't qualify. Then he described how this boy was asked at the last minute if he would be interested in going to State on the third and fourth grade relay team. He said that the boy agreed to go without even hesitating and how impressive that was since it's intimidating to swim with older kids. George leaned over to Matt and said, "He's talking about me!"
When the coach announced George's name for Rookie of the Year, kids were shouting, "Yayy George! GEORGE!"
On the way home, George told Matt he was so happy when they called his name that he thought he was going to cry.
Needless to say, he can't wait to be on team next year...
0 comments:
Post a Comment